Be honest about the bias

During this past week, university groups across the
country mobilized against what they consider to be an ‘apartheid’ against the
Palestinian people. We hold no issue with this endeavour. Though myself, and
many of our members, disagree with their worldview, we would fight for their
freedom to express it.

That being said, the Association of Palestinian Students
(APS) hosted Norman Finkelstein this past Tuesday. Norman is not a conventional speaker. He uses
his Jewish identity as a shield for his anti-Semitic views and support for
terrorist organizations. Ironically, he actively accuses Jews of using the
Holocaust as a means by which to gain political and financial gain; deeming it
the “Holocaust industry.” He even went as far as to say the terrorist group Hezbollah
are fighting against Nazis (in reference to Israel) and declared, “we are all
Hezbollah” at a rally.

Academia has rightfully thrown him aside, with DePaul
University (a left-wing institution) denying him tenure and not renewing his
contract. Academics, like Alan Dershowitz of Harvard publicly challenging his
obscene conclusions. Yet the APS still
referred to him as “a political scientist” and claimed he “specializes in the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Holocaust.”

However, as stated at the beginning of this letter, they
have every right to host him. Nonetheless, academic honesty is required. Painting him as some run of the mill
political scientist is a facade and misleads attendees into believing he is a
legitimate voice in a highly contentious field.
The APS furthered the facade by attempting to have the Political Science
and Pre-Law Association as well as the Robert Gillespie Academic Learning
Centre co-host. Both of which wisely
pulled their names from the event upon realizing who the speaker was.

Events being hosted on campus, which claim to educate on
controversial issues, surely will have some sort of bias. However, admitting the bias is a crucial part
of the process of learning and growing as intellectuals. The veil of objectivity,
created by the APS, serves solely to weaken the discord around this issue on
campus.

We wish to fight him and his anti-Semitic speech with more
speech and we hope this letter serves to highlight the disingenuous event
hosted by the APS.